Eyebrows McGee is a young woman living in the emotional heartland of America: Peoria, that infamous bellwether constantly cited by the clueless culturati, as in, "But will it play in Peoria?" Eyebrows gives you a ground-level view of what's actually playing in Peoria.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Donna Reed

I had a Donna Reed moment this afternoon, while making Devil's Food Cake and my specialty extra-fudgie frosting from scratch for Mr. McGee's birthday (he's 29 tomorrow). It was just so housewifely of me!

Except I don't think Donna Reed ever baked while rocking out to Candee Jay and Shakira on her iPod.

Extra-Fudgie Frosting12 oz. (1 pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate nestle morsels1/4 c. butter (REAL butter, no margerine or substitutes; they don't cream quite the same way)3ish cups confectioner's sugar1/2 cup milk - the fatter the milk, the better the frosting creams, though it will work with skim.

Using a double boiler (or, if you're me, a pot inside another pot) over warm water (DO NOT BOIL!), melt together chocolate chips and butter, stirring with spatula or wooden spoon. Right as they melt to consistency, remove from heat (or the moisture will melt out and it'll start getting hard).

Put chocolate mix in bowl, and add 1/2 c. milk and 3ish cups of 10x sugar. Mix through (by hand - I like a fork). If too thin, add more sugar. If too thick, at more milk, 1 tsp. or so at a time.

Allow to cool slightly before frosting. This is a pretty thick frosting, so you probably want to frost before letting it cool all the way, but if it's too hot, it melts right off the cake!

I should say, when you add the chocolate/butter mix to the milk & sugar, it initially looks frightening and awful and like something has gone horribly wrong. You have to mix it for a minute or two before it acts like it's going to actually grow up to be frosting.

10x sugar is another name for confectioner's or powdered sugar, allegedly b/c the particles are 10 times finer than regular sugar particles, which makes them dissolve more easily in liquids (like milk) with no grainy feeling. Ergo perfect for frostings.